Shopping

Here is an example of my mindset when I shop.This is from September so the seasonal items are not on sale in April-- but it gives you the idea.

I went to safeway because I needed cheese for tonight's (Friday) dinner.  I checked my ad list and saw that cheese was on sale.  I also noticed from my list that fresh corn was on sale this week (6 ears for $1), and organic plums were $1.99 a pound.  On a Friday Only sale was Heinz ketchup in a 30 oz. container (The kind with no HFCS).  So yesterday when I was looking to see where cheese was on sale I decided to go on Friday so I could take advantage of the ketchup sale too.  While I was at Safeway I checked all the usual clearance spots and found organic soy sauce, organic tamari and rice vinegar on clearance.  I stocked up on those items because they meet all my stock up criteria.  (Good quality food, food that we will eventually use, non-perishable food, food that I normally would buy) The eggs were $1.52 which is more than I will normally pay for them ( I try for under a dollar), but since I filled out Safeways online registration for coupons I got them for free. In addition I also got a coupon that printed out because I purchased kikkoman sauces for $2.00 off our next shopping trip.   I am kicking myself because I had a coupon for 20% off of Safeway produce so I could have saved that had I remembered my coupon so I may bring the coupon and reciept with me soon, get more of the kikkoman sauces if they are still on sale ( see if another coupon prints out) and really clean up! 

What I got:                                                                            What I paid for it:
3 jars of ketchup  $1.49 each                                                 $4.47
3 kikkoman organic soy sauce $1.69 each                              $5.07
2 kikkoman tamari sauce (also organic) $1.39 each                $2.78           
3 kikkoman rice vinegar $0.92 each                                       $2.76
1 dozen eggs                                                                          FREE
1 2 pound bag of shredded cheese                                         $5.99
6 ears of corn (6 for $1)                                                         $1
organic black plums ($1.99 a pound)                                      $4.84

Total Charged                                                                        $26.92

*$2.00 off next trip to Safeway

So now that you've seen my example of a shopping trip let me explain it a bit.  It's a great example of eating according to what is in season (stone fruit and corn on the cob), cherry picking (buying only the sale items -eggs, produce, ketchup, and not getting lured in by other things (baked goods, convenience foods)).  And stocking up when prices are good (kikkoman sauces, and the ketchup).